Botating disk game device



March 20, 1951 A. c, BENTON ETAL 2,545,644

ROTATING DISK GAME DEVICE Filed May 26, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORSBENTON A 7' TORNE).

JOHN E $GHM/D7; JR.

ALFRED March 20, 1951 A. c. BENTON ET AL 2,545,544

I ROTATING DISK GAME DEVICE Filed May 26, 1947 2 Sheets-Shet 2 IZi .r.

/6 INVEN R Q ALFRED c. BEN7Q0 go/1w E 50/144107, .m.

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 20, 1951 UNI ELS PATENT BQ-IAIING. DISKGAMEQEYICE Alfred G-.-.Bentonand J hn F. Schmidt, J12, San Erancisco,Calif.

wannlicatiun-Mayzfi, Seri l-N 750,594

hara ters ill be, d spla ed-fer ead nel n Q nne t on withe s; nmnber of.fier ntlsinds of game Int emesent. disclosur diceifaces are as thecharac er d splayed onjthe spinnersthwsh headaptabi ity .Q QH QdBY Qtoth disp ay .o the ch ra ters .wiiLreadily h understood'.

It is an. biee oi i h sIinventiQn to provid a gaming qe fith jkindidescrib d h t mashinning and stopping mechanism Operating Continuouslyin a periodic manner so. that those en a n..p e same by. r fe ence. tothe device need not'be concerned withits operation. Another objectoftheinventiqn is to provide a device ofthis. kind in which the stoppingposition ofgthe spinnersjis so a'ffectedhy variqusiim determinate causesthat any single reading 011 displayedcharacters cannot be foretoldbutwill appear as entirelyby chance. Further andmore specific objects and'advantages ojf the invention and the Inanner'in which the objects areaccomplished will become apparent upon an, under standing of thefollowing specification wherei reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings.

In-the drawings:

Fig. 1 is-a horizontal sectional view through adevice embodying thepresent invention and illustrating-wheposition of -the various partsthereof;

Fig. Z-isafront-elevation ofthe-d'evice partially 2 be of any suitableimaterialand shape. Within the ca in are .a pluralityofaligned spinnersI?! supported. on a rotatable shaft I? disposed' in suitablebearingibrackets l3. A motor,*as shown at M, is employed for rotatingtheshaft -l'-2--and is connected thereto asby a beltindicated at I5,andiconventionar pulleys. The -mot-or isemployed for imparting rotationto-the shaft 112, which. in turn causes the spinners, to rotate freelyin a manner and. through "mechanism presently to he described, When.thecircuitto the motor is broken the spinners continue to rotate but arebroughttoastop each-by-one of a set of,electro-magnets, -illustrated*atL6. The spinners are preferablymade' of plastic' -or other non-magneticmaterial and" each is provided with a plurality of 'iron' bars I?embedded or otherwise carried at intervals-agreeing with *the number ofcharacter-bearing faces on; each spinner; Thus when the rna'gnetsnareenergized each spinner is -brought to rest irra positions-cor"responding to that il1ust-rated-'in l=ig; with one of the iron barsadjacent the 'magne't'and with one face parallel to the front face ofthe casing H) and positioned to register witha-wind'ow 18 whichexposes-the aligned-face of the spinner 'tOvieW-in the mannershown in'F-ig'. '2;

Instead of being directly connected' wit-h the shaft 12, each of thespinners H is freely ro-- tata-ble on the shaft and is driven therebythrough-afiuidclutch, theconstruction of which is best shown in Figs. 5;6 and-*7; InFig. 5 0118 of the spinners *H is shown-as mounted for freerotation on the shaft .IZand as-being of hol- 10w construction with aplurality of' spaced vanes '20 formed therein. Opposit-eto the 'spinnerH and preferablyreceived byit is a drive member-"Ti secured to a shaft1'2 for rotation therewith and; having a "plurality of spaced vanes 2-2,also shown in- Fig: 7; similar-to and arranged-inopposed relation to thevanes-20 0f the spinner Ii. Gonsequently; whentheshaft and. the drivingmembers 2-! thereon are rotated-by the motor ll,-rotating motionis-transmitted' 'to-thespinners "through the-fluid, in this casea-ir,which occupie -the 'space between the vanes of the driving member' -Nand the vanes of the-spinner. When the motor-isstoppeda-the shaft anddriving-membersii tendf-to come to rest through inertia, but thespinners thernselves are free to rotate either faster or slower than-theshaft .andcan be broughti to 'astop entirely. independently of the shaftby 'the a'pplication of energy to the electro-mag-ne-ts "I 6. As theelectro-magnets are energized; the tendencyof the spinners will bestop-in whatever position they'happen toassume-Withoneof their severaliron elements 17- being: draw-n toward the corresponding;electr c-magnetI 6.

-I-n--orderto .cause the electric -motor- -to start and stopperiodically, and also-to eifectenengization of the magnets l5 each timethe circuit to the motor is broken, an automatic alternating switchmechanism is provided. This switch comprises a pair of mercury tubeswitches, one for the motor, illustrated at 24, and one for theelectro-magnets, illustrated at 25. Both of the switches 24 and 25 arecarried on a rocker 7 arm 26 adapted to oscillate about a supportingshaft 21. At one end the rocker arm, as best shown in Fig. 4, isconnected by a link 28 with a thermosensitive element, such, forexample, as an expansible tube shown at 29 adapted to expand upon beingheated and to contract upon being cooled. The opposite end of thiselement is connected as by a link 39 with a stationary post 3! throughan adjustable fitting 32. A heating element or lamp 33 is disposedclosely adjacent the expansible element 29 and upon being energized willcause the element to expand to rock the mercury switches in onedirection. As the mercury switches are oppositely disposed, causing themto rock in one direction, they will energize the heating lamp 33 and theelectro-magnets it to hold the spinners at rest. With the heating lamp33 energized, the expansible element 29 will expand causing the switchesto rock in the opposite direction, thus tie-energizing the lamp and theelectro-magnets and closing the opposite switch to energize the motor.

The motor 2 carries a fan blade 35 for the purpose of causing a streamof air to flow toward and over the expansible element 29 so that whilethe motor is in operation the element is being cooled and will contractto again reverse the positions of the switches 2d and 25. Cas ing I9 is,as shown in Fig. 1, preferably perforated as at 36 and 37 in oppositewalls to provide for the free flow of air under influence of the fanblade 35. With this arrangement, as long as energy i supplied to themain circult of the device the switches 2 and 25 will continuously andperiodically reverse their positions so that the spinners are firstcaused to spin and then to stop, each with one of its character-bearingfaces in alignment with its corresponding window it in front of thecasing.

It is also desirable to provide lamps, indicated at 38, adjacent thewindows it for illuminating the exposed faces of the spinners. A mainswitch is shown at-39 as operable from the exterior of the casing forbreaking the main circuit when desired, and switches 59 are provided,one for each of the spinners, in order to es tablish constantenergization of any one of the magnets l6, and in this manner to disableits associated spinner. By manipulation of the switches 39 any desirednumber of the spinners may be operated at once for playing differenttype of games. A rheostat it is also included in circuit with theheating lamp 33 so that the temperature of the same may be varied inorder to accelerate or reduce the speed of the alternate operationscontrolled by the expansi-ble element 29.

A wiring diagram illustrating the manner in which the severalelectrically actuated parts of the device are included in an electriccircuit is shown in Fig. 8. In this figure the main switch 39 isillustrated as controllingthe entire cir-- cuit, and the illuminatinlamps 98 are shown as disposed in parallel in this circuit. The motor Mwith its fan 35 is controlled by the mercury switch 25, and in thewiring diagram this switch is illustrated as tilted toward its openposition. The other mercury switch 25, being tilted in the samedirection, is closed and completes a circuit to the heater lamp 33,which circuit also includes therheostat 41. With all of the selectingswitches 49 closed as illustrated in Fig. 8, the magnets it are allenergized only when the switch 25 is in its closed position. However,each of the switches 48 may be thrown to an opposite position completingan uninterrupted circuit to any desired one or more of the magnets It,thus maintaining the desired magnets energized to hold their associatedspinners against rotation when the motor I l rotates the shaft l2.

Because of the fact that thespinners are driven through a fluid clutchwith air as a fluid, the rate at which they spin and the particularposition that each occupies may vary greatly from time to time.Furthermore, because of the fact that the starting and stopping switches24 and 25 are positioned through a thermo-sensitive device, the timingof the starting and stopping will be slightly variable depending uponthe tempera,- ture of the room, the direction of any draft that willvary the temperature adjacent the device, and other intermediatevariable factors. Consequently, each time the device starts and stopsthe spinners will come to rest in different positions, or at least inpositions that cannot be foretold with any degree of accuracy. When themain switch 39 is closed, the device will operate continuously,alternately starting and stopping at frequent intervals, say periods of20 or 30 seconds, so thatobservers engaged in a game-may without anymanipulation of the device take readings of the exposed characters asoften as they desire and apply the readings to the play of any game inwhich they are engaged.

We claim:

A game device comprising a plurality of spinners mounted for rotation ona common shaft and having peripherally arranged character bearing faces,a motor for rotating the shaft, a fluid drive connection between theshaft and each spinner, spaced members of magnetic material carried byeach spinner, an e1ectro-rnagnet adjacent each spinner for stopping itby attraction of one of said members, and means for alternatelyenergizing the motor and the electromagnets, said means comprising amotor switch and a magnet switch, a thermo-sensitive element connectedwith the switches for closing one switch when the element is subjectedto high temperature and the other switch when the element is subjectedto low temperature, a heater adjacent the thermo-sensitive element andin circuit with the electro-magnets, and a cooling fan actuated by themotor and positioned to direct a cooling draft over the thermo-sensitiveelement.

ALFRED C. BENTON. JOHN F. SCHMIDT, JR.

REFERENCES GI'IED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Le Gorre Mar. 6, 1934

